The present invention relates to separating spaced articles and more specifically coil separators for spacing stacked metal coils.
Steel and other metals are often stored in coils. During shipment and storage, the coils are generally arranged in stacks and separated by radially disposed separators.
Many kinds of separators have been used in the prior art. Prior art wood and compressed paper separators tend to absorb water. If the metal coils are prone to oxidation, the moisture in the separator can result in edge damage to the metal. Unevenly sawed wood separators have also been a problem.
Furthermore, if the materials used in the separators compress, this can result in undesired shifting of the coils. However, it has been found that if the separators are extremely rigid, the softer metal coils can also be edge damaged merely by the rigid separators.